Posts From Daniel Marchena

Co-Host of the XDA/Android Podcast & Android Enthusiast - a.k.a Altimax98 -
I am a husband/father of 2 and a video director/producer as a 9-5. I've had a love for Android since 2009 but will still use an occasional iOS device. While I love rooting and customization, I tend to focus more on living with my devices.
I am always all ears so PM, or Tweet me if you have any questions!

Just over a month ago, the OnePlus 5 burst onto the scene with a storm of controversy. From the unexpected quality of the cameras, to the benchmark enhancing passing straight through the infamous and uncommon "jelly scrolling" issue, supposedly caused by the device's screen being mounted upside down. If our Moto Z2 Force unit is...

When Google announced Android Nougat they also announced a new update system that would allow for seamless updates for end-users with no "Updating Android" screens delaying the initial boot. Even with multiple phones launching on Android Nougat this year, no other OEM has actually used this new A/B partition system despite its advantages. That appears...

Manufacturers of Android devices have been adding features to phones as long as they have been able. Some of these features are useful, like the OnePlus Alert Slider, or Moto’s Active Display. Others fall into the camp of the not-so-helpful like LG’s “Friends”, the secondary camera on the HTC M8, and Samsung’s Bixby button.
For us...

A little over a year ago I wrote about the killing of the 3.5mm headphone jack. At the time, the Moto Z was newly announced, making it the first mainstream and major manufacturer to forgo the decades old and widely adopted technology.
Fast forward to today and we are now looking at the very real possibility...

Anyone who knows the smartphone market knows that there are two essential release cycles, with one lesser cycle during the course of the year. The first cycle is typically late February until May with the second falling in place in late August through October.
Samsung, LG, and HTC typically launch their first flagships in that initial window...

Last year it seemed that all the bad mojo in our industry was focused on one brand: Samsung. The Galaxy Note7 will likely go down as one of the worst blunders in our industry despite its revival as the Fan Edition nearly one year later.
While a lot could be written about how Samsung handled the...

Since 2011 HTC has permitted bootloader unlocking on some of its models, allowing developers and enthusiasts to tinker to our heart's delight. HTC stood alone among other OEMs in providing both unlocked and developer edition devices, with the developer edition devices retaining much of their warranty despite unlocking. That changed with the HTC 10 which dropped the Developer...

I mentioned in my last article that the HTC U11 was shaping up to be a pretty solid phone but a few things were holding it back that were directly tied to its software. While my customization article is still in the works, it does look like HTC is taking heed to some of the...

Just over 4 years ago, I had finally upgraded to what I felt was the next level of Android smartphones, the HTC One, which would later get the M7 moniker. It was premium, solid, and felt expensive, unlike my Galaxy Nexus which was everything other than that.
I kept that phone for a year going from...

When Samsung announced the Galaxy S8, it felt as if they were as excited to announce the new Bixby application as they were the device itself.
They added a button on S8 that exists only to serve the Bixby mission, chased down methods to remap that key, and they even had a PR stint with major...

From the moment the first leaks started to pour out about the new OnePlus 5, its design was one of the closest guarded secrets. While it was likely that the 5 would feature a dual camera setup, the question is what sort of setup it would feature.
Vertically mounted in the existing OP3 body or horizontally...

The Honor 8 Pro is a difficult device to evaluate from the outside: on one hand, it is the newest flagship device from Honor, but yet it does not quite replace the Honor 8 released last summer. On the other hand, it is running the latest silicon from Huawei, the HiSilicon Kirin 960, a QHD...

Google Pixel XL - Google Edition (Unlocked)

Samsung Galaxy S8 (T-Mobile) [SM-G950U]

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (Unlocked) [SM-N920I]

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